Hammer Crew

NHC Impact

Nobscot is primarily maintained by NHC volunteers. 

Most of the improvements to the facilities at Nobscot Scout Reservation since 2019 have been performed by the group of adult volunteers known as the “Nobscot Hammer Crew”. 

What we do

NHC volunteers do the work that typically is done by camp rangers, plus more.  We work with the leadership at Mayflower Council, Scouts BSA to maintain and improve 450 acres, 60+ picnic tables, 22 buildings (pavilions, cabins, lodges), 12+ tentsites, 12 lean-tos, 7 latrines, 5 water pumps, 4 parking lots, miles of hiking trails, and hundreds of dead or fallen trees. 

The members of the Nobscot Hammer Crew (NHC) provide the labor for almost all the improvements, renovations, and repairs at Nobscot. Additionally, we help fund the cost of many/most repairs and improvements at Nobscot.

We also plan and execute major renovation projects to restore, rebuild and improve the trails and facilities at Nobscot Scout Reservation with labor-intensive projects that may take months or years to complete.

When are we in camp

You may see NHC volunteers almost any day of the week, getting stuff done, but Tuesday is the primary workday for most of us to arrive by 8:00 AM and to focus on top projects that need attention. We work at Nobscot every Tuesday, all year round.

Who we are

We are in our 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and have varying levels of skill. If you don’t feel that you have "handyman skills” yet, there is no better place to learn. At Nobscot we share and develop our skills and our passion for the outdoors.

Many of us have a history with Scouting, a few of us are former scouts who came to Nobscot in our youth, some are friends of friends, some are folks who noticed our projects while hiking through Nobscot. 

We are committed to "give back" to the next generation of Scouts (girls and boys) by improving the Nobscot Scout Reservation. 

Join Us

Join our Nobscot Hammer Crew on Tuesdays: "give back" to the next generation of Scouts (girls and boys), get some exercise, lose weight, tell stories, make friends, and learn new skills.

We have a backlog of carpentry, masonry, roofing, landscaping, trail maintenance, water pump maintenance, light fixture replacement, dead tree removal, chain-saw work, stump-grinding, painting & staining, and more - which will keep us busy on every Tuesday for decades to come.

History

Initially only one or two volunteers for many years, our numbers grew significantly, starting in 2019, after an urgent request to former scouts to come back and help resurrect a camp that had fallen behind in maintenance and attention. Through friends, friends of friends, word-of-mouth, and signs around the camp, we now number over 20 regular or semi-regular volunteers.   

NHC accomplishments 

Since 2019, all of the adirondack shelters have new roofs and have been re-stained, many of the cabins and lodges have new metal roofs, seven of the cabins have been renovated (10, 21, 26, 30, 31, 35, 39), hundreds of fallen or dangerous trees have been removed, firepits have log seating, campsites are marked, overgrowth has been cut back, latrines have been cleaned out, water pumps have been fixed, and more than twenty thousand man-hours have been put into improving the reservation by volunteers. And most importantly, the Nobscot Scout Reservation is on the radar screen and recognized by Mayflower Council as a camp where small capital investments yield tremendous results due to a very strong volunteer labor-force in the Nobscot Hammer Crew.

Why do we invest our time and money?

Our experiences in scouting or as youth were shaped by the adult volunteers who taught us how to safely use a knife, hatchet, or axe, split firewood, build campfires, pitch a tent, camp in the winter, canoe, build wood towers, perform CPR, be self-reliant, work as a team, and leave a campsite better than you found it. In our formative years, the Scout Law: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent were guideposts for living. 

Scouting taught us that each of us needs to give back. 

“If not us, then who?  If not now, then when?”

For someone who likes to be productive and work with their hands, the Nobscot Hammer Crew is the “best part time job you can have without the complexity of getting paid”.